Shoreline changes around artificial headlands along the Misawa Coast, Japan

Abstract

Artificial headlands were constructed along the Misawa coast of Japan to prevent beach erosion caused by the construction of the Misawa fishery port in 1971. In order to assess the protection afforded by the artificial headlands, monitoring of shoreline changes was undertaken by conducting monthly GPS surveys and aerial photographs Based on the average position of the shorelines in 2006, advance of the shoreline has occurred along the coasts to the north and south of headlands B1, B3, and B11 The headlands B1 and B13 are in the south end and in the north end of the headlands group. Those lengths are 200 and 100 meters. The shorelines of the coasts to the north and south of headlands B5, B7 and B9 were stable, and the coast to the north of headland B13 was retreating. While the position of the shoreline along the north coast changes every month, change in the position of the averaged shoreline has decreased since the latter half of 2004. In conclusion, the artificial headlands were effective measures for countering beach erosion along the Misawa coast.